Eat, sleep, breathe, drink, Arsenal

There was one shock omission when the team was announced pre-match. Mesut Ozil was ruled out and so Alex Iwobi took his place alongside the other ten players who won the North London derby last week. That emphasises where Jack Wilshere currently stands in the pecking order for the number ten role.

The Arsenal had Laurent Koscielny to thank for an excellent headed clearance from the menacing Barnes as the clock ticked past six minutes. It had been a cautious opening by both sides. At the other end Alexis saw his first effort deflected away for a corner which, as so often happens, didn’t clear the first man.

The match was warming up and only the fact that Barnes was clearly offside prevented Nacho Monreal from being pinged for a push on the Burnley striker in the box. The hosts were building up a head of steam and the Gunners were facing a stern threat of their credentials ‘on a cold Sunday afternoon oop north’.

In the fifteenth minute a shot from Berg Gudmundsson resulted in Petr Cech tipping the ball onto a post. It eventually resulted in clearly a corner, but Lee Mason (yes him again) booked Defour for protesting the obvious error. For all the Burnley pressure it was the visitors who should have been ahead when Alex Lacazette picked out an unmarked Aaron Ramsey in the nineteenth minute, but the Welshman’s instinctive finish was wayward.

As the mid-point of the half approached Burnley were showing just why they, as well as us, were playing for fourth place in the Premier League tonight. Mustafi had to bravely block a Defour drive, and Cech had to pluck another ball out of the air at the far post to deny Mee at least an assist at the expense of a corner. The Gunners defence was being given a thorough examination.

In the 25th minute Brady scythed through the back of Iwobi, his second offence, and clearly swore at Mason when the free-kick was awarded. His yellow card was entirely deserved. A thirty yard strike from Nacho Monreal went narrowly wide of the far post in the following phase of play. The Arsenal were coming back into the game. Alexis all but danced clear of the last defender on the half hour.

Iwobi’s effort was blocked as the visitors turned the screw before a double strike from Monreal ended up in row H. For a goal-less game it was certainly impossible to take your eyes off the screen. Back came Burnley and Cech again had to clear a dangerous looking cross from the right, before clawing another Brady corner into his chest at his far post. Six minutes from half-time the goalkeeper again denied Brady with a superb dive at full stretch from a free-kick in a central position.

From over thirty yards out Granit Zhaka spectacularly hit the Burnley fans in row M. Our attempts on goal were getting higher, in the true sense of the word. Mason somehow decided that Ramsey was responsible for taking a shoulder to nose charge in mid-air and awarded Burnley a pressure relieving free-kick. It was the last meaningful action of a strangely gripping clash of styles.

The second-half was less than three minutes old when Burnley fashioned the first counter attack, halted by Hector Bellerin’s block. Seconds later Alexis teed up the marauding Saed Kolasinac and Mee’s last ditch block saved the Clarets. Lacazette then stung the palms of the Burnley custodian, Pope. The teams had picked up the pattern of the first-half quickly.

Kolasinac was having a purple patch and once agin Mee had to be alert to effect another vital block. Arsenal had come out in a positive frame of mind and the travelling faithful responded noisily. Brady hooked Koscielny’s collar from behind but he avoided further censure from Mason.

As the hour mark approached Berg Gudmundsson was denied by the diving Cech. Another Brady free-kick was claimed at the far post by the Gunners goalkeeper, having a fine match to this point. Lacazette’s right-foot effort from the edge of the box was deflected away for another wasted corner.

A Ramsey half-volley cleared the far post as the locals jeered a perceived wrong when Xhaka made a superb sliding tackle. The locals are right up there with Stoke’s support as the most miserable, moaning crowd anyone could have to suffer. The Gunners made the obvious change in the 66th minute seeking a way of pinching the match. Jack Wilshere came on for Iwobi to a warm round of applause from the noisy visiting support.

Mason failed to give an obvious penalty when Brady cleaned out Bellerin in the box. It doesn’t even surprise us any more. Kolasinac made a mazy run down the left and drilled the ball across the face of goal. He was having a storming second-half. Burnley responded but Defour hit his effort into the under-fire locals behind the goal.

Dyche reacted positively by sending on Wood for Defour. Wenger thought it time to send on Danny Welbeck for Lacazette. Twelve minutes remained. Little Jack played a one two with Alexis and his shot was deflected agonisingly wide of a post. Arsenal were looking to grab yet another late winner in a half we had dominated. Mee’s block when Ramsey turned superbly in the box came just two minutes from the end of normal time.

The drama was about to begin in the two added minutes. Tarkowski shoved Ramsey to the floor in the box and not even Mason could ignore it. Alexis slammed his spot-kick through the hands of Pope to give the Arsenal a thoroughly deserved last-gasp win against Burnley for the third consecutive meeting of the clubs, and fourth place in the Premier League into the bargain.

Just as I expected,Wenger always has a problem when
teams become physical.His passing game was easily neutralized
This one track system is easy to counter and if not for the penalty rightly given,the gunners would have drawn.
Sterner tests await.

Fine report sir. I hope you enjoy your winnings. That was a big and well deserved win after a lot of hard work. Beauty and the Beast alright.

I heard that Mesut was allegedly spotted driving his Ferrari in central London today. I suppose it takes a bit more illness to prevent that than playing top level football. Plus he would probably have been a total passenger in today’s challenging environment on his performance in previous such tests. We needed 11 battlers today.

Watched just the second half and found the match tense but very interesting. Burley are very well organised defensively and it will be very difficult for any team to break them down. Thoroughly enjoyed the win.

Couldn’t find a stream that didn’t demand all my credit card information, there was no radio commentary and even the Arsenal Player commentary kept buffering, so I went and did the unimaginable – Christmas shopping.

It’s a terrible admission but there it is.

Is anyone really buying another Ozil illness ?

Good points at Turf Moor where they cheat more, shout more and even win more these days.

Lee Mason is a pathetic excuse for a referee. Good to see he won’t be getting his win bonus today.

Thanks for a very good report Holic. I couldn’t find a stream either and Sky Soorts News didn’t even show the score on their ticker at the bottom of the screen.
It is a very good result at a tough place t9 go in tough conditions. My mate reckoned that Cech was excellent as was Mustafi.
I believe the Ozil illness excuse. You don’t pay footballers £140 k a week and allow them to dip out but I suspect it wasn’t Ozil’s sort of game today. I also suspect Jack will start in his position ahead of Iwobi on Wednesday. I hope he does.
Up to fourth and we have a lot of winnable games coming up

Justice done, although I thought AW had bottled it when he sent Danny on for Laca. WHY??? It’s not cos Laca was tired, he’d barely been involved most of the game.

As I said in the previous drinks we only need to score to win against teams like Burnley, and a player who scored 37 goals last season has to be a better bet than one who has only scored 20 in the past three and a half seasons.

No one should have been expecting the passion exhibited last weekend, and credit to those who stuck to the job today – especially Kalashnikov and Cech. And well done Alexis for squeezing in the pen. He’s a worry as pen-taker, but it was no more than we deserved against the new Stoke and their twelfth man Mason.

Didn’t find a stream either so made do with the web site broadcast this afternoon and Sky’s highlights tonight.

We didn’t get to grips with the game in the first half and we were a shade fortunate to go in level at the interval. We seemed to up our work rate in the second half and there were two or three promising moves in the box which were snuffed out by Burnley’s well drilled defence. The penalty was the result of our constant pressure to the final whistle against a tiring team and all credit to Rambo getting into the box at the death.

Mustafi’s return has tightened things up at the back, it was good to see Jack back in the PL side and thank goodness for the much needed 3 points to put us back in the top four.

Can’t help feeling sorry for all you poor buggas who can’t get a decent stream locally, while on the other side of the world I can watch in crystal clear 4k Ultra OLED. So clear that I can assure you, ‘holic’, that Gudmansson’s 15th minute shot was deflected by Cech for a throw-in, not a corner. If Mason really did deny the home side a corner, for whatever reason, then he really does need glasses or possibly an upgrade to his failing occipital lobe. 😀

It’s those ‘winnable games’ we often have the most trouble with, TTG. Depends who wants to win it most, as Theo can confirm.

It seemed clear to me that Burnley wanted it most in the first half of this one, and us in the second half. Overall we worked harder for it – twice as many shots, twice as many passes etc – so the result was right, whatever Dyche pretends.

And as I write Dave Warner hits the winning run at the Gabba. Fuck. Being English born and Aussie naturalised it’s a win either way, but fuck the Aussies anyway. 🙁

It was indeed the commentator, Matt. I was just pulling ‘holic’s leg. In the past I’ve copped a lot of angst from people who claim I can’t get the whole picture on TV and have to be at the game to know what actually happened.

Sometimes I don’t think the commentators are at the game either. Not sure about BBC commentators but ESPN’s are rarely at the Euro games they broadcast, and it shows in their coverage.

I watched on J Sports and the
commentator and pundit (Davie
Provan) were certainly there
but both missed the 2 Arsenal
penalties. To be fair Provan called
them both on the replay.
I don’t like Mason but he was at
least consistent yesterday on
calling hand/arm pushes
throughout the game.
Burnley can have no complaints
I think.

Ones crying over the penalty given should also know a clear one was denied when brady hacked bellerin, so in the end it did even out.

Burnley is the new stoke and it was appalling to see them hoist the ball diagonally everytime and then hope for a knock down. The commentators were all about Sean Dykes and how well he has converted this team into ” world beaters”, whereas Arsenal were as per them, average and not wanting the physical side of the game.

Burnley were good first half and we in the second. Mustafi and the defense held firm and cech was never truly tested which showed we matched them at their own tactics.

Ramsey does not suit the pivot and often goes missing leaving Xhaka and the midfield exposed. He is very good is Aaron but maybe he just does not suit this sytem, Iwobi definitely does not and the value of Mesut was realized more often than not yesterday.

Overall a win in a game we almost drew, mark of a turn around? let us see how we fare mid week and then against that deplorable team over the weekend, if we win both, it maybe we and chelsea challenging city for the title?

A minor coup for the Arsenal marketing department was scored in a suburban Minnesota shopping mall this weekend. The Puma outlet store had shirts, knit caps and baseball caps with the insignia of only about six European clubs and Arsenal’s were displayed the most prominently.

I played my part by buying an Arsenal knit cap, which should come in handy as winter closes in. I can’t remember what the other clubs were, with the exception of Borussia Dortmund, but this is the most prominently I have seen Arsenal merchandise displayed in the Twin Cities area.

A sad story about Everton –
apparently they’re considering
going cap in hand to the fat gum
chewer Sam to save them.
Life is hard sometimes, like
toffee, I suppose.
If that’s really what they think is
their best option then they should
just quit.

They did indeed complain Trev.
But i told them to chirrup, it
could be worse.

bt8,
Didn’t taste of anything really,
very crispy. But to be honest
I doubt any Japanese under the
age of 40 have eaten any.
I think it started as a protein
thing when times were hard
after wars/famines etc.

CBA
It’s a long time since you asked where I was in 1989 but I never leave a good question unanswered unless I don’t know the answer…but in this case I do.
On the great day in 1989 I was at Billund in Denmark at LegoLand with lots of children and my brother-in- law who supports Fulham. The game was not on telly and we put them to bed early and I heard the result on the BBC 10 o’clock radio news. I went completely mental and woke all the children up.
Didn’t see the game until Sunday evening. Mrs TTG had taped it. I went mental again. I suspect I may not have stood up to watching it live.
Thanks for asking😃😃

Sanllehi has joined and Vorc is rumoured to be joining too. This is very exciting in one way but aren’t Sanllehi, Vorc and Gazidis doing the same job?
It does suggest we are going to be indulging in transfer activity. Perhaps we are selling the whole team to pay for the LA Rams new stadium? 😃
Or…..we are signing Messi, Reus and Aubameyang. Yes that would be it.

Talking of which, or not, I came across this quote about Bryn Jones, the Welsh inside forward we bought from Wolves in 1938 for a then record British transfer fee of £14,000 to replace the irreplaceable Alex James, that suggests there is nothing new under the Arsenal sun when it comes to languid playmakers.

“To lay blame on Bryn Jones for the club’s lack of success that season [1938-39] was unfair, for, in a nutshell, the quiet, modest, self-evasive, lonely figure could not cope with the intense pressure of the media spotlight even though his good positional awareness and splendid ball control were there for everyone to behold.”

There was such outrage at Arsenal spending so much money on Bryn Jones that the matter was even raised in parliament. Jones, though, had a tragic career after leaving Wolves where he had become a star. He was in his mid-20s when he joined the Arsenal, but World War II disrupted his career. When competitive football resumed, he was 34. Thus he played only 71 games in the eleven years he was an Arsenal player. He scored just eight goals for us, three of them in his first four games. He came from a distinguished footballing family. Four brothers also played professionally and his nephew, Cliff, spent some time on the wing up the road in Middlesex.

Cynic
That’s why we signed the head of recruitment from Dortmund last week ( Mislintat) to solve this very problem. This double recruitment is the most positive thing to happen to the club since Alexis joined in my view.
I’m starting to think Ivan might actually have a plan

Ned
I can’t quite believe the coherence seeming to emanate from the club at the moment. The summer window was chaotic. Maybe they were waiting to make these appointments or maybe the mess allowed Gazidis to get his way. Who knows with our club?
Wenger has said today we are keeping Alexis and Ozil until the summer yet a friend who knows several agents tells me they have been circulating potentially interested clubs re Ozil and Sanchez . Is there a civil war going on or is Wenger trying to tease a higher price out of potential buyers?
All part of the mystery of life at Ashburton Towers.